Oernoon, on his way back to the library, Alex spotted Vivian sitting alone in Clock Square, looking upset as she sat on a bench, deep in thought.

  “Vivian, weren’t you excited about the Quidditch tryouts today?” Alex asked, remembering how excited she'd been the day before, sharing her hopes of making the team. Alex knew Vivian was a great flyer; he was sure she’d be chosen, at least as a reserve pyer.

  Vivian’s face twisted in frustration. “Ugh, don’t get me started! Those purebloods have taken over everything. They’re not just strutting around the on room; now they’re trying to trol our Quidditch team. Any Slytherin who hasn’t openly sided with them isn’t even allowed to try out. They even shut out veteran pyers who don’t support them,” she said, her voice seething with anger.

  Alex frowned. “What about Dean Slughorn and Vanessa? Aren’t they doing anything to stop them from messing things up?”

  Vivian sighed. “Our dean’s too soft. As long as there’s no ht brawling, he just turns a blind eye. Vanessa’s busy with her st year; they hardly care about her authority anymore. Whehere, they keep it in check, but the sed she’s go’s chaos,” she grumbled.

  Since Alex had been staying away from the on room tely, he hadn’t realized things had escated to this level.

  Vivian’s frustration only grew as she tinued. “You know what? Some of them are openly deg their support for You-Know-Who now. Just for speaking out, senior Welen Higgs got kicked off the Quidditch team. He was our star Seeker st year when we beat Gryffindor!”

  Alex remembered Welen Higgs, a polite uppercssman with impressive flying skills. “So... Quidditch tryouts are over?” he asked, sensing the answer.

  “ly,” Vivian replied bitterly. “Now that guy, Raleigh Yaxley, is leading his newly reaeam. He’s a prefed a big pureblood supremacist, so with him in charge, I doubt Slytherin has a real ce at a fair match this year.” Her shoulders slumped as her voice faded.

  The mention of Raleigh Yaxley struck a nerve. Alex remembered him well—one of the most vocal pureblood advocates. There had been a heated frontatioween him and Vanessa at the start of st year. Now it sounded like Yaxley was rallying others to his side, aiming to spread his influence.

  Seeing Vivian so dejected, Alex tried to ence her. “Don’t worry, Vivian. If it doesn’t happen this year, there’s always year. I believe in your talent, and you should, too.”

  Vivian’s frustration didn’t ease. “Easy for you to say. With the way things are going, I might never set foot on a Quidditch pitch for the rest of my time here.”

  Alex gave her a meaningful smile. “Maybe not... but I think their reign won’t st forever. Trust me on that.”

  Vivian looked at him curiously, sensing there was more behind his words. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” Alex replied lightly, though his tone hi hidden iions. “Just know that I’ve got your back. And I hope you’ll have mine.” Vivian tilted her head in fusion as he turned and walked away, leavio ponder his words.

  Alex, however, had no iion of being dragged into the pureblood drama. Right now, his focus was on strengthening himself. His studies were advang quickly, especially his work on the echolocation spell. After numerous adjustments to the spell’s structure, he and Professor Bones had mao achieve the necessary frequency for ultrasonic waves. They were now in the process of testing various ruo receive and interpret the sound waves.

  “The fourth set of runes shows promisis,” Professor Bones remarked, holding a crystal ball they used to test spells. “The refracted sound waves are starting to form images, though the resolution is low and a bit unstable. hat down, and we’ll test the st two sets. If all goes well, we refihe fourth set.”

  Alex quickly jotted down the results on part. They had beeing for days now. His job was to cast the ultrasonic spell repeatedly, while Professor Bones used different crystal balls to deted receive the sound waves. Each test required ten trials for accuracy, and after four sets of runes, only the fourth had mao form any image.

  “Let’s try the fifth set of runes,” Professor Bones said, setting down one crystal ball and taking up another.

  “Yes, Professor,” Alex replied, preparing himself to cast the spell once more.

  After ten thh trials, Professor Bones set aside the crystal ball he was using, picked up a fresh one, and announced, “The fifth group of runes didn’t quite work. Let’s give the sixth group a try as our final test.”

  Alex nodded in agreement, then tinued casting his spell with practiced tration. A spark of surprise lit up Professor Bones' eyes as he stared into the new crystal ball. “Wait—could this be it?” he murmured, astonished by what he saw.

  “What’s wrong?” Alex asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

  “See for yourself!” Professor Bones handed Alex the crystal ball and motioned for him to recast the spell.

  Taking the crystal ball in hand, Alex focused his energy and cast an ultrasonic wave. As he looked through the crystal ball, ripples became visible, creating a detailed view of the entire office. By adjusting the angle, he could observe a holographic se in stunning crity, revealing even the desks and ers that were hidden from sight. Every angle was stable and clear.

  “This is it? Did we really succeed?” Alex asked, his excitement barely tained as he took in the se dispyed through the crystal ball.

  “It certainly seems so,” Professor Bones replied with a simir thrill. “I never imagined aire world posed of sound waves could look so remarkable!”

  Alex, said with excitement, “With the sixth set of runes as our base, we refine and perfect this spell!”

  “Let’s get to work, then! I believe we plete it with this core structure.” Professor Bones eagerly opened up his ruable, gesturing to Alex to join him in optimizing the ru.

  Together, they made minute adjustments to the runic structure and spag, repeatedly testing and analyzing their progress. After several refis, they finally settled on a stable, satisfactory ruructure. Taking a deep breath of relief, Professor Bones decred, “At st, we’re dohe step is engraving it onto alchemy materials. Alex, are you ready to craft your first item?”